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Product Description

Let’s break it down. Mugen’s a reckless sword-slinger with a style that’s more b-boy than Shaolin. He’s got a nasty streak that makes people want to stick a knife in his throat. Then there’s Jin, a deadbeat ronin who speaks softly but carries a big blade. He runs game old-school style, but he can make your blood spray with the quickness. When these roughnecks bring the ruckus, it ain’t good for anybody, especially them. Enter Fuu, the dizzy waitress who springs her new friends from a deadly jam. All she wants in return is help solving a riddle from her past. She and the boys are tracking the scent, but there’s ninety-nine ways to die between them and the sunflower samurai.

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Shinichiro Watanabe's film noir-ish sci-fi adventure Cowboy Bebop set a new standard for cool in anime in 1998, and Samurai Champloo, an edgy mix of Edo-era martial arts and hip-hop irreverence, is a worthy follow-up. A string of coincidences brings together three misfits in a two-bit tea house: Mugen, a rebellious vagabond; Jin, a taciturn ronin; and Fuu, a nutty waitress. The sardonic Mugen lacks the polish that distinguishes a classic martial artist--he uses break dance spins and flips against his foes. Jin moves with a polish that approaches iciness: When he unsheathes his sword, he becomes a lethal work of art in motion. Fuu forces Jin and Mugen to help her find a mysterious samurai "who smells of sun flowers." As the ill-assorted trio wanders towards Nagasaki, Watanabe treats the audiences to a string of outrageous, anachronistic adventures. In Episode 18, Mugen belatedly learns to read at a smackdown elementary school, while Jin tries to settle the rivalry between the heirs to the dojo of his former sensei. The seemingly unrelated storylines collide in a no-holds-barred graffiti contest featuring Tokugawa rap lyrics, ink-brush tagging, Hiroshima homeboys, and a caricature of Andy Warhol. But Watanabe reveals the hidden significance of these nutty interludes when he brings his picaresque adventure-comedy to a close. Like Cowboy Bebop, Samurai Champloo leaves the viewer wanting more. (Rated 16 and older: violence, violence against women, profanity, brief nudity, sexual situations, alcohol and tobacco use) --Charles Solomon

Top customer reviews

This animated series is awesome in its scope and execution. Cultural and historical references are juxtaposed with modern music and story lines. Animation and music combinations are amazing. I recommend watching in Japanese with English subtitles. The subtle ways in which things are pronounced adds to the interpretation, which can be lost a bit with the English language translation into spoken words. If you get used to watching the subtitles, you will get so much more from the stories with the spoken Japanese expression. Every detail is perfected in this and you are compelled to re-watch to grasp all the subtleties and to enjoy the visual and audio of this series.

Oh boy, samurai champloo. It's an amazing idea. Blend the soul of hip-hop with the heart of a ronin warrior and what you get is one of the best animes ever made in my opinion. In 26 episodes this series manages to hit every note. Amazing character development, beautiful artwork, and many great lessons about the journey in life we take and the people on those paths. The music compliments the incredible visuals. Artists like nujabes, fat Jon, and tshuchi flow perfectly as if the music itself is a character in the show. Do yourself a favor and watch this amazing anime. It is truly underated gem. I am sure that after a watch you will pick up the soundtracks or be humming it's tunes like myself.

The Samurai Champloo: The Complete Series is the quintessential action/comedy/ronin anime for all you sword-fighting savants out there! This modernized sword swinging hip-hop influenced story breaks the boundaries of dark humor, action, and adventure, seamlessly blending a new age funk style with the classical setting and art style typical to many Feudal Age samurai films/shows.The art style of this show can be likened mostly to shows like Cowboy Bebop, Trigun, and Bleach, featuring beautify lines, vibrantly colored set pieces with blurring, quick pace action sequences. This format of the Bluray is an AVC/1080p upconvert port, showing visible quality improvements from the previously released iterations fo this show sold a few years past.From the rich and storied musical selections, to the passionate, crisp English and Japanese voice acting, this show has something for all audiences. Great show, and an ever greater medium to watch it!

This is by far one of the best anime out there. It's about these three individuals who all meet up under an unusual circumstances and band together on a journey to find a certain man. Each came from a mysterious past and all had to struggle with coping with each other while trying to focus on the journey at hand. The two main male characters Jin and Mugen came from different background of fighting style but are both deadly with a sword and Fuu is the female character that keeps the peace within the group. It's full of wicked sword and martial arts fighting, laughter, and it has it's warm and heartbreaking moments that they all shared. You will watch as these three strangers who were brought together by fate venture on a long and hard journey that bonded them together and in the end the became good friends. I truly recommend of buy this great work of anime and I also recommend Cowboy Bebop.

I originally saw this series on Adult Swim. I like the series a lot. It goes back to a feudal Japan. There are some historical explanations about the time period that help the viewer to understand why things are the way they are. The rivalry between the main characters is fairly humorous as well. The story seems a bit slow due to the trials and tribulations the group goes through trying to survive on their journey. It's not like every episode actually progresses the main story. Some of the events are there for humor while others seem to be there to give a feel for the time period. While they do not move the main story forward, the episodes are entertaining enough not to make them a hinderance to the series.

I've loved Samurai Champloo ever since I saw it on the Adult Swim block of Cartoon network several years back. I had a chance to get the complete series at Best Buy once but couldn't afford it at the time then it sold out quickly. I finally got it here on Amazon and watched the entire 26 episode series in 1 day in 1 sitting.The main characters make for quite the unusual team. Mugen is a great swordsman but a crude, undisciplined wild child from a Japanese penal colony. Jin is a more traditionally trained, more prim & proper samurai who became a ronin (samurai w/o a master) and a wanderer after being forced to kill his master in a duel. They both want to fight each other to the death when they first meet but are captured and sentenced to death for various crimes until Fuu, a waitress who was being bullied by a group of thugs until she was saved by Mugen & Jin, saves them from execution on the condition they help her find her estranged father (the samurai who smells of sunflowers). They travel feudal Japan together while fighting off various enemies and getting on each other's nerves but eventually come away as close friends after surviving numerous trials & tribulations. My only complaint is that series is kind of Mugen-centric and Jin kind of gets the short end of face time in various episodes. But I highly recommend this series to any fan of dramatic anime.